The door opened, and blinding white rays of light burst forth, nearly stealing Keelin's sight—a warm light unlike anything he had known in that dark world. When he finally managed to open his eyes, he found himself inside a real room, a room filled with color and life, as if a fragment of reality had fallen into the heart of hell.
Suddenly, a familiar voice pierced the silence, soft as a breeze, a voice that made his heart leap—it was Elthra.
Keelin rushed toward the sound, throwing doors open frantically until he reached her room. She was there, lying on her bed, singing in a gentle, sweet melody. But in a terrifying instant, time and space around him trembled. The bright colors of the room shifted into a deep crimson red, like the color of blood, and Elthra began shivering on her bed as if the cold of death had seized her.
The door opened, and Elthra's mother entered, holding a cloth steaming with heat, droplets of water falling to the floor. Keelin tried to stop them, tried to scream and warn her, but her body passed through him like a ghost. He fell into shock, muttering, "What's happening…?"
The mother approached her daughter anxiously. "Sweetheart, you need to see a doctor. Your body is frighteningly cold."
Elthra gave a faint smile. "No, Mom, I'm fine. I think the aether threads are merging with my body—that's what's making me cold."
Her mother sighed. "I don't really understand what happened. Even that boy who brought you here told me not to worry and that there was nothing to be concerned about."
Elthra laughed softly. "Noctis… so he was the one who brought me? I thought he was one of the teachers."
Suddenly, Elthra started coughing violently, a dry cough that tore through her chest. Her mother placed the hot towel on her head. "I'll let you rest. Call me if you need anything."
"Thank you, Mom… you're the best," Elthra replied weakly.
Her mother left and closed the door. Keelin stood alone, watching the scene with a broken heart.
"I'm in the past…" he whispered. "I'm watching the moments before her death."
Elthra began singing again, but the lyrics were strange and distorted. "I looked at something strange… when… ahh…" She suddenly groaned in pain. "Even when I say its name, my body hurts."
Night fell, and her singing turned into hoarse cries for help. "Help me… please… help me…"
Keelin froze. These were the same sounds he had heard in the dark world. They weren't real cries at that moment, but fragments of her sorrowful song, as if her mind had foreseen what would happen.
Suddenly, the window burst open with immense force, as though pushed by a demonic wind. Elthra tried to rise with her weak body to close it, the cold biting into her bones, but the moment she lifted her hand, a rough hand seized her from nowhere.
She tried to scream, but another hand covered her face. A strange man emerged from the shadows, wearing a dark robe, and hissed, "Well, well… another human to kill. I was told there's a girl who saw something she wasn't meant to see. So I came to silence you before you reveal the secret."
Keelin watched everything, his face twisted with helpless rage. The man removed his robe, revealing thick facial hair and a knife scar beneath his eye, evil dripping from him.
"Good night," the man laughed, raising a hand charged with deadly black aura.
Keelin ran with all his strength to save her, screaming, trying to push him—but his hand passed through the air… and the man's hand pierced straight through Elthra's chest.
It went through her fragile body and through Keelin's ghostly form as well, as if stabbing his soul. Keelin screamed at the top of his lungs. Elthra coughed blood, her green eyes slowly fading.
The man pulled his hand out, holding her still-beating heart between his fingers. Laughing madly, he said, "I'll turn this heart into a magic medicine." With a grotesque motion, he crushed the heart into a glowing red pill and swallowed it before Keelin's shattered eyes.
Elthra's body stiffened like plaster. Life left her as she stared into nothingness.
The man wiped his mouth and said with pleasure, "What a delicious heart," then jumped out the window, laughing. "A weak girl… not worth living."
Keelin was left alone with her corpse in a red world collapsing around him, tears burning his face as he realized what he saw wasn't illness—but a brutal murder for a secret Elthra herself never knew.
The red world began to crumble. Walls cracked like dry shells, the sky collapsed onto the earth, and everything melted into a bottomless void. Amid the destruction, Keelin fell to his knees beside her cold bed, tears streaming down his face, while her hoarse voice echoed one last time like a will carved into the air:
"The secret creature I saw… it had a very large red eye… watching me… it was a parallel world to ours… a world filled with strange monsters…"
The voice cut off. The scene vanished like smoke.
Keelin jolted awake in his bed, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath as if he had run miles. Hanabi and Namiro stood beside him, their faces filled with worry.
"Keelin! Can you hear us?" Hanabi shouted, shaking him. "You were screaming and muttering nonsense in your sleep!"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with trembling hands. "I… I'm fine. Just a nightmare… a long, horrible nightmare."
Hanabi exhaled in relief. "Get ready and come downstairs. It's late. You have to go to the academy. We heard terrible news about what happened yesterday—that student who turned into a demon and fought the teacher."
Namiro added seriously, "She's right. The academy is in chaos, but you must attend. Today is the funeral for that girl who died so horribly…"
A chill ran through Keelin's spine at the words horribly died. He remembered the scene, the scarred man swallowing her heart.
"Her heart never stopped… it was stolen," he whispered to himself, but said nothing aloud.
"We'll wait downstairs. Don't be late," Hanabi said before leaving with her sister.
Keelin descended the stairs with heavy steps, ate mechanically without tasting anything, dressed, and left with them toward the academy's cemetery.
The atmosphere was gloomy, the sky overcast as if sharing their grief. Elthra's family was completely shattered. Janero and Leora stood beside them. Leora sobbed uncontrollably, her cries tearing through the silence, while some teachers offered stiff condolences.
Keelin stood before the grave as dirt covered his friend's body. Rage boiled in his veins—rage not only at the man who killed her, but at the entire world that allowed such injustice.
The burial ended. People left one by one until the cemetery was empty and silent. Keelin stood alone before the gravestone, staring at the engraved name, tears drying on his cheeks.
Suddenly, the air behind him trembled violently. A dark gate formed from those strange purple threads, and a familiar shadow stepped out.
Keelin froze—it was Noctis.
But not the old Noctis. He still bore his demonic features, his body wrapped in bandages and dried blood, his green eyes shining with deep sorrow. He walked slowly to the grave, holding a single white rose. Gently, he placed it on the soil and stared at the grave for a long moment, as if leaving his soul there.
Noctis didn't say a word. He didn't even look at Keelin.
He turned slowly, stepped back into the gate, and it closed behind him, disappearing completely—leaving Keelin alone in the silence of the graves.